hello all. just starting the process of converting my dvd library. Is it better to use handbrake on the dvd while its loaded...or copy the dvd to the disk and then run handbrake on it...or is that even feasible?

hello all. just starting the process of converting my dvd library. Is it better to use handbrake on the dvd while its loaded...or copy the dvd to the disk and then run handbrake on it...or is that even feasible?

Copying the DVD to the HDD means you can set Handbrake going overnight with your movies all queued up. It can also be considerably faster ripping from the HDD as a number of current and not-so-current Macs have rip lock built into the SuperDrive which limits the speed at which data is accessed from the optical drive.

My MacBook has a rip lock drive, it takes about an hour to make a full DVD rip. My 6 year old iBook G4 takes less than 15 minutes. When it comes to using Handbrake though the MacBook is around 10x faster than my iBook.

thanks! Any suggestions on best quality for viewing. I have the apple tv and apple tv2 on two different tvs. I tried "troy" on the universal setting...but it was freezing my apple tv.....so I switched to apple tv preset....but it is still a bit soft in resolution it seems...a little bit jagged.

thanks! Any suggestions on best quality for viewing. I have the apple tv and apple tv2 on two different tvs. I tried "troy" on the universal setting...but it was freezing my apple tv.....so I switched to apple tv preset....but it is still a bit soft in resolution it seems...a little bit jagged.

These are the settings I use, the videos look transparent to the originals:

I strongly suggest you go to preview, find a part of the movie with lots of action, encode a one minute clip (with those settings). Then find the video in ~/Libary/ApplicationSupport/Handbrake/Preview, stream to ATV and see how it looks.

With respect, these settings are seriously out of date/suboptimal for use with current builds of Handbrake:

Constant bitrate has been superceded by constant quality

2-pass encoding is no longer required if you are using CQ encoding

Most sources should have anamorphic enabled

OP, if I were you I would start with the Handbrake preset most appropriate for your destination device (in the OP's case, the Apple TV preset) and go from there e.g. if you are encoding from HD sources you can increase the resolution as detailed here. The HB team have spent a lot of time optimising the presets to balance quality and file size, so unless you really know what you're doing that's probably the best place to start.

p.s. your ATV2 will stream/play encodes done with the ATV1 preset in Handbrake just fine: however, it won't work the other way round i.e. the ATV1 won't play ATV2 preset encodes.

With respect, these settings are seriously out of date/suboptimal for use with current builds of Handbrake:

Constant bitrate has been superceded by constant quality

2-pass encoding is no longer required if you are using CQ encoding

Most sources should have anamorphic enabled

OP, if I were you I would start with the Handbrake preset most appropriate for your destination device (in the OP's case, the Apple TV preset) and go from there e.g. if you are encoding from HD sources you can increase the resolution as detailed here. The HB team have spent a lot of time optimising the presets to balance quality and file size, so unless you really know what you're doing that's probably the best place to start.

p.s. your ATV2 will stream/play encodes done with the ATV1 preset in Handbrake just fine: however, it won't work the other way round i.e. the ATV1 won't play ATV2 preset encodes.

That's fair enough, I personally go with fixed bitrates so I know exactly which devices my encodes are compliant with.

I don't see how "Most sources should have anamorphic enabled", the resolution you choose to output is a personal preference. There's no right or wrong about it.

I don't see how "Most sources should have anamorphic enabled", the resolution you choose to output is a personal preference. There's no right or wrong about it.

If you are creating HD files for viewing on either type of ATV, you are limited to a height of 720. However, many movies have a wider aspect ratio and so HB will limit the height of your clip to less than 720 in order to maintain the original aspect ratio.

If you set anamorphic to "Custom", and the width x height to 1280 x 720, you maintain the original aspect ratio, limit the height to the ATV's max of 720, but gain horizontal resolution. Your resultant file will have a resolution of 15xx x 720 or sometimes 17xx x 720 for ultra-wide aspect ratios, and will play perfectly on your ATV (I have only 1st gen units and get great results with this).

I simply select the ATV preset, open the Picture settings, make the necessary changes to the anamorphic type, the picture width and height, and code away.

If you are creating HD files for viewing on either type of ATV, you are limited to a height of 720. However, many movies have a wider aspect ratio and so HB will limit the height of your clip to less than 720 in order to maintain the original aspect ratio.

If you set anamorphic to "Custom", and the width x height to 1280 x 720, you maintain the original aspect ratio, limit the height to the ATV's max of 720, but gain horizontal resolution. Your resultant file will have a resolution of 15xx x 720 or sometimes 17xx x 720 for ultra-wide aspect ratios, and will play perfectly on your ATV (I have only 1st gen units and get great results with this).

I simply select the ATV preset, open the Picture settings, make the necessary changes to the anamorphic type, the picture width and height, and code away.

I wasn't aware that ATV can output 1080p :P

Anyway, a 35% increase in resolution (for 1:2.4) certainly isn't bad. I thought of doing exactly this when hearing about the iPad 2's *potential* retina display.

hey. I tried using the apple preset...and changing the anamorphic to custom at 1280 width. They still don't look right. The edges are a bit chunky...you have to stand back from the tv more than normal to feel right about it.

hey. I tried using the apple preset...and changing the anamorphic to custom at 1280 width. They still don't look right. The edges are a bit chunky...you have to stand back from the tv more than normal to feel right about it.

Did you set the height to 720? That's the point of selecting custom anamorphic and the width isn't an issue.

hey. I tried using the apple preset...and changing the anamorphic to custom at 1280 width. They still don't look right. The edges are a bit chunky...you have to stand back from the tv more than normal to feel right about it.

I don't see the point of setting the width to 1280 if the source material is a DVD. Most DVDs are encoded at 720x480 (576 in the UK) and are anamorphic. So a 16:9 widescreen movie will end up 854x480.

Upping the resolution will just make the file size larger or the video "blockier". Just convert at 480p and allow the aTV2 do the upconverting.